'Kaatera': A gritty take on land ownership conflict

With a strong story and powerful dialogues, the period film brings an edgy sociology to Kannada mainstream cinema. The director, in a conversation with DH, talks about the making of the film.

With the release of Darshan starrer Kaatera, a year that saw stars delivering underwhelming films, ended with a bang. Directed by Tharun Kishore Sudhir, the film, unlike many Darshan films, opened not just to fan frenzy but also to critical acclaim. Within four days of its release, the film recovered its investment at the box office. 

Tharun Sudhir places socio-economic caste relations at the centre and builds a narrative around it. Most earlier Kannada films which discussed caste — Bhagya Jyothi, Hemavathi — were based on a Gandhian outlook, with someone from the upper caste becoming a saviour, known as the savarna saviour complex. But in Kaatera, a suppressed group rebels against the system and fights for justice. 

Set against the background of the Land Reforms Act — which declared the tiller was the owner of the land— Kaatera focuses on challenges faced by farmers to acquire their lands from zamindars after the law was passed.

Darshan plays a blacksmith. When a star with mass appeal plays a character from an oppressed caste, the impact is bigger. Even Rajkumar played multiple characters belonging to the oppressed castes. The protagonists in films directed by Siddalingaiah and Vijay were from the lower castes too, but the tradition did not continue for long. With Kaatera, it is back.

The heroine, played by Aradhana Ram, makes farmers aware of the law. 

Kaatera showcases the atrocities of the caste system — extreme discrimination, honour killings, sexual harassment, exploitation and other forms of humiliation. With a strong story and powerful dialogues, Kaatera brings caste questions to Kannada mainstream cinema. It also has a strong female protagonist. 

Caste and honour killing formed the crux of Dhananjaya starrer Gurudev Hoysla, released in March last year. Directed by Vijay Naagendra, the film’s narrative with multiple elements diluted questions of caste. In the films of Soori, with protagonists from marginalised communities, the stress on caste is low — violence takes the upper hand. Kantara too had a Dalit protagonist (Rishab Shetty as Shiva) but the film failed to empower the community. Shiva wins in the end but as a superhuman daiva and not as a human being.

In February 2022, the film, then untitled, was announced with an interesting poster featuring a dog leading a flock of sheep. The tagline read, ‘it’s the responsibility of the one leading to show the way to their followers.’ 

Wanted to bridge content and commerce: Director Tharun Sudhir 

In a conversation with DH, Tharun Sudhir, director of Kaatera, talks about the making of the film. 

What prompted you to choose this theme?

There aren’t many films based on the Land Reforms Act. There were many such incidents, like the ones narrated in the film that took place during the implementation. I felt it was important to narrate a story against this background. 

You have dealt with a sensitive topic, caste. What were the challenges you faced?

Our goal was not to talk about caste or right and wrong. We only wanted to show what happened. We were prompt and truthful in the writing. We did a lot of research and used it to write a fictional character. 

Director Tharun Sudhir. 

We are generally cautious while writing and make sure it is not offensive or derogatory to anyone. There is a dialogue in the trailer we had to mute in the film: “They are all like snakes, if they’re not poisonous, we must catch them, but if they’re poisonous, we must kill them.”  A wildlife organisation said the dialogue provokes people to kill poisonous snakes. We had to remove the dialogue. 

Did you build the story to suit Darshan’s image or was it the other way round? 

It was a mix of both. We were particular about the story and it also had to suit Darshan, who has a huge fan following. My main focus was, “How can I blend content oriented cinema and commercial cinema?” I wanted to make a realistic film with commercial elements that can entertain people and at the same time convey a message. 

The dialogues have gained popularity. What kind of research did you do to write them? 

The story is set in the Mysuru region of the ’70s, so the entire script went through a lot of research. For dialogues, Masthi (dialogue writer) had to research to know the kind of language and the slang they used at the time. The entire team watched Kannada films made in the ’70s just to understand the period — the way they dressed, the language they spoke and the props they used. We were in pre-production for about a year. 

How was your experience working with Darshan for the second time, after ‘Robert’?

When it comes to cinema, he is professional, he maintains the director-actor decorum. I narrated the story to him for about two and a half hours. At the end of it, he agreed to play the part. That was the team’s first celebration.